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Musk hints at Tesla interest in Daimler van

FILE PHOTO: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks with Los Angeles Mayor Ken Garcetti (unseen) in a "fireside chat" at the National League of Cities (NLC) 2018 City Summit in Los Angeles, California, U.S. November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Kyle Grillot

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc could be interested in partnering with Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz on an electric version of its Sprinter van, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in a tweet https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1064541185820114944 on Monday.

"Maybe interesting to work with Daimler/Mercedes on an electric Sprinter. That's a great van. We will inquire," Musk replied https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1064541185820114944 to a comment by a Twitter user enquiring about an electric van.

The latest generation of Sprinter vans debuted in February this year and Mercedes-Benz plans https://mercedesblog.com/all-new-mercedes-sprinter-debuts-on-february-6 to offer electric versions from next year.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Daimler declined to comment on whether it was open to collaboration with Tesla, but a spokesman said it was pleased by Musk's interest in the van.

Outgoing Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche was reported as telling a Polish newspaper last month that he did not rule out cooperating with Tesla in future, even though the German luxury car producer had sold its stake in the U.S. electric vehicles company.

Company veteran Ola Kaellenius was recently named to become Daimler's first non-German chief executive from next year.

(Reporting by Sayanti Chakraborty in Bengaluru and Edward Taylor in Frankfurt ; Editing by Anil D'Silva)